Remco Evenepoel Wins Fourth World Time-Trial Title to Tie All-Time Record

The 26-year-old reigning Olympic champion delivered a masterclass on the Canadian circuit, asserting his dominance from the opening kilometers. Coming into the event as the overwhelming favourite, Evenepoel was already more than half a minute ahead of the rest of the field by the second intermediate time-check. Already the Olympic champion in both this discipline and the road race, Evenepoel has not lost a time-trial since the 2025 Tour de France. He has enjoyed his best season to date, winning the Amstel Gold Race, Clasica San Sebastian and Grand Prix de Quebec, as well as finishing second behind Tadej Pogacar at the Tour de France.

Sunday’s event lacked five-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, who sustained season-ending injuries in a Vuelta a Espana crash on Aug. 29. Pogacar won the last two world titles in the road race, but he has yet to make a podium in the time trial. The time trial was first held at worlds in 1994. Among the first starters, Gil Landim Gomes from Guinea-Bissau was the first starter, but the Chinese Chenglu Liu was the first to set a finishing time: he completed the 39.2-kilometer course in 52.25 minutes. South African Byron Munton then set a benchmark time, finishing the cycling leg in 47.37 minutes with an average speed of 49.4 kilometres per hour. Kasper Asgreen later clocked a time of 46.41 at the finish.

Montreal Course Domination and Ganna’s Chase

By the time the Belgian crossed the finish line, he had put almost a full minute into the rest of the elite field. Italy’s Filippo Ganna claimed the silver medal, finishing 57.31 seconds behind the winner after a sluggish start that initially left him outside the top ten at the opening checkpoint, according to official results from the 2026 championships. Ganna had started slowly and was only 10th at the first time-check, but by the third, he had moved up into second spot, though he could not make any headway into Evenepoel, who did not stop increasing his lead from the start to the finish. France’s Paul Seixas rounded out the podium to take the bronze medal, two months after finishing fourth in his debut Tour de France at age 19, edging American Brandon McNulty by 12 seconds. Young Swede Jakob Soderqvist, the under-23 champion in this discipline last year, was second to Evenepoel at the first two time-checks but faded over the last 10km and finished fifth, while teenage French starlet Seixas gauged his effort better and put in a strong ride over the final 10km to finish third.

Evenepoel wins 4th World Championships Time Trial title — Photo: idlprocycling.com

Evenepoel’s victory makes him the first male cyclist in history to win four consecutive world time-trial titles, while also equalling the record number of overall titles held by German Tony Martin and Swiss Fabian Cancellara. Evenepoel became the fourth cyclist to win a fourth world title in the time trial after Frenchwoman Jeannie Longo, Swiss Fabian Cancellara and German Tony Martin. The triumph also draws him level with the overall championship records held by German great Tony Martin and Swiss legend Fabian Cancellara, a milestone achieved during a season where the Red Bull – Bora Hansgrohe star has remained virtually untouchable against the clock.

“It’s amazing. It was obviously the goal to come and win here for the fourth time in a row. It was a big motivation. I’m super happy. It was a wonderful experience.”
Remco Evenepoel

Marlen Reusser Defends Women’s Title and Reusser’s Victory

In the women’s championship, Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser successfully defended her crown on the same 24-mile Montreal course, celebrating her 35th birthday with an ultimately comfortable victory in 50 minutes and 24.44 seconds to prevail by a whopping 40 seconds over Briton Zoe Backstedt. In 2025, Reusser won by 52 seconds on a 19-mile course in Rwanda. The 36-year-old Reusser also won time trial silver at the Tokyo Olympics. Franziska Koch of Germany secured the bronze medal, finishing 45.54 seconds back, followed by Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy in fourth and Cedrine Kerbaol. The top American woman on Sunday was Taylor Knibb, who took 13th place, eight days after winning a world title in the half Ironman triathlon, and is set to race the full Ironman Kona World Championship on Oct. 10 in Hawaii.

99th UCI Road World Championships Montreal 2026 - Men Elite Individual Time Trial — Photo: Nbcsports

Time-trial queen Reusser celebrated her birthday with a victory, but not before Briton Zoe Backstedt gave her a scare. Backstedt had been quickest at the intermediate checks, leading the early part of the race before Reusser powered through the second half. Demi Vollering finished a disappointing eighth.

Elite Men’s World Championship Time Trial Standings

Position	Rider	Country	Time / Gap
1	Remco Evenepoel	Belgium	44:53.13
2	Filippo Ganna	Italy	+57.31
3	Paul Seixas	France	+1:13.04
4	Brandon McNulty	United States	+1:25.27
5	Jakob Soderqvist	Sweden	+1:26.18
6	Isaac del Toro	Mexico	+1:38.83
7	Stefan Kueng	Switzerland	+1:44.44
8	Kasper Asgreen	Denmark	+1:48.54
9	Daan Hoole	Netherlands	+2:02.21
10	Callum Thornley	Great Britain	+2:02.79
19	Artem Shmidt	United States	+2:20.44

The Road Ahead in Montreal

With the time-trial medals decided, competitors turn their attention immediately toward the upcoming road races, which are scheduled for next Saturday for women and Sunday for men. Evenepoel won the road race in 2022 and is the only man to win Olympic and world titles in both the time trial and road race. His next objective will be to win a second road-race world title next Sunday, and become the first man to do the double in the same year.